New Music to Know: Sam Smith Writes Songs for Lonely People

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Sam Smith is taking in the view of New York City. It’s something many artists do when they visit Radio.com’s headquarters on the 44th floor of the Time & Life Building. To the southeast is the Statue of Liberty. While the legendary Radio City Music Hall–the crown jewel of Rockefeller Center–lies directly to the east. Smith laments that he’ll be leaving immediately after our interview for JFK airport to catch a plane back to the UK.

The up and coming singer is going to be on a lot of planes in 2014, shuttling back and forth from the UK to the U.S., where his career is picking up major steam thanks to Disclosure‘s “Latch,” which was a major hit in the UK last year and is just now finally gaining traction on American radio. Smith says he wrote that song during his first session with the brotherly duo, Guy and Howard Lawrence, who reached out to him after hearing his song “Lay Me Down.”

“I was working at a bar when we did this,” Smith recounts. “I’ve witnessed their project, from their first single, then their album, and seen how it lifted off. You know, how the album has just taken over. It’s been incredible to be a part of that.”